This specification relates to data processing systems implemented on computers and, more particularly, to data processing systems providing services in the nature of web services.
Enterprise software systems are generally large and complex. Such systems can require many different components, distributed across many different hardware platforms, possibly in several different geographical locations. Thus, the architecture of a large software application, i.e., what its components are and how they fit together, is an important aspect of its design for a successful implementation.
Web services are one technology for making the functionality of software applications available to other software, including other applications. A web service is a standard-based way of encapsulating the functionality of an application that other applications can locate and access. A service-oriented architecture is a distributed software model within which all functionality is defined as independent web services. Within a service-oriented architecture, web services can be used in defined sequences according to the business logic to form applications that enable business processes.